Rathergate…dun dun dun….

Posted by PICKLES AND CHEESE on September 22, 2008 · Leave a Comment

We are all aware of the power of the Internet and the information that is available at the click of a button, but I’m not sure people actually realize the INFLUENCE that the Internet has on our media.

For those unfamiliar with the “Rathergate” scandal, here’s the unofficial recap-Dan Rather used documents that were later found to be unauthentic in “proving” our dear old Mr. Bush did something illegal to get out of being drafted in the military… there was actually no real proof-and the authenticity was proven to be false by…you guessed it….Bloggers.

The producer who aired the report on CBS was promptly fired and Dan Rather resigned within a few months of the incident.

I’m sure Mr. Bush has done many illegal things in his lifetime…but that’s editorial (delete that) and yet to be proven. Innocent until proven guilty, right?

Even a distinguished journalist that has been in the profession for several years can be fooled, this is a cautionary tale for us fresh out of J-school.

It is so important as Journalists that we always examine the facts and make sure that the information we are using is exact and authentic. Things like this don’t just happen, they happen when we let them.

Another example of the blogging world interfering in a negative way albeit funny to some….bad humor to others….The infamous….”ANON” (see video)